Shinkansen

by William

hi this trip was fun the trains went FAST we also went on a boat and a bus and 2 gondolas and i didit wat to go on the
shinkansen bye




by Mom:

William had been SO excited to go on a Shinkansen (bullet train) ride, that by the time we got there, he didn't want to go on it since it would be only a 15 minute ride. Yes, it was short, but fun. BTW, please note that William knows this is a 300 Shinkansen, which isn't as fast as the 700, but far cheaper because it stops at each station. The punch from the wind percussion as 2 of these meet at speed is an experience.
We also went on an electric train where the hill is so steep, there's no place to curve back around. So, you stop, the conductor changes sides, and the train 'reverses' to the next level, and then he changes sides again, until you're up the mountain. You see a portion of that in the video.

Interpret This

I went into a bathroom at the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum (think fresh ramen noodles cooked in the different styles from all over Japan) and this is what I saw:
On closer inspection, what do you think this means?
I think it means that you have to use the handle to flush the toilet, that the automatic flushing system is not working.
On our local Keikyu line, sometimes I see this sign, which I'm still not sure what it truly means.

Spring Skiing

We couldn't let the ski season go without having one more trip to the mountain. We're glad we went when we did since the snow wasn't going to stay around much longer. You can see by the video that the only snow around is the snow that the ski area carefully makes, protects, and manages. We could clearly see that there was a golf course that lies under the snow and it was exposed enough that I thought there may be a few hardy players playing through.

William built on his skills developed last time. Although he could turn last time, he preferred the more direct approach (straight down the mountain in a flying wedge). We wanted to work up to the steepest hill in the ski area! A daunting widow maker run called slope 'C'. (OK, it would likely rate a blue square in the US, but since Japan doesn't seem to mark their runs for difficulty, we could easily have called it a double diamond!) but we needed to prove that he could control his speed with linked turns.

William worked on his turns on the easy slopes and we then headed up to the steep slopes. He did very well and was able to control his speed without taking up ALL of the slope. He was having such a great time that he didn't really want to leave. I was having a great time too, but we needed to head home.

We're looking forward to next season when we'll maybe stretch ourselves to slope 'D'...

FEET BEWARE

We've been assimilated. William was rummaging around in his toy bins (I'm sure after one of the many times I replied, "You have a lot of toys, William!" to his constant question of: "What can I do NOW, Mom?"), and found the directions on how to build the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars IV. I can't believe he's so like his dad...

Anyway, they have been putting it together. William will work a bit on his own on it. I sometimes get called in to spy one piece he can't find, but it is so cute how he can help put it together.

HOWEVER, my feet will never be the same. I barely can invade the 'boy space' now without pokes and sharp edged lego taking their toll on my tender toes.